16 HSE University Students Win Student Start-Up Competition

© Mikhail Dmitriev/ HSE University

The results of the first round of the Student Start-Up Competition were announced on July 5. The expert jury selected 650 winners from 2,300 submissions. Among the winners were 16 HSE University students, who will each receive 1 million roubles to develop their business projects.

The winning start-ups represent a variety of niches and industries, with 216 related to digital technologies, 161 involved in new tools and intelligent manufacturing technologies, 68 in medicine and healthcare technology, 66 in creative industries, 56 in chemical technologies and new materials, 45 in biotechnologies and 38 in resource-efficient energy.

The competition was organised by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Innovation Assistance Foundation as part of the University Technology Entrepreneurship Platform federal project. One billion roubles from the federal budget was allocated for this year’s competition.

HSE University students took top positions in digital technologies (11 projects), creative industries (3 projects), new tools and intelligent manufacturing technologies (1 project) and medicine and healthcare technology (1 project).

Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, noted that the first round of the competition featured students from every educational field. He added that the benefits of the competition are not limited to material support; devising a business project and defending it in front of experts gives the participants an opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills, as well as engage in critical thinking and teamwork.

What’s expected from competitors:

 the creation of a legal entity in which the grant recipient has more than 50% ownership and is general director;

 the development of a business plan for an innovative project;

 the development of a website for the start-up;

 a report on the start-up’s development.

The submission and selection of student submissions to the competition comprised several stages, including online defence of the projects, explains Nina Feodosiadi, Head of the HSE University Business Incubator. ‘The projects were assessed by experts, investors, entrepreneurs, and representatives of universities, business incubators, and accelerators. We were primarily looking for potential, innovation, manufacturability and a start-ups ability to prove itself in the market,’ she said. ‘The implementation of the projects will be an important step for the competition winners. As an institute that develops competencies in teams and start-ups, the HSE University Business Incubator has programmes that will help them. We invite them to join us.’

The HSE University Business Incubator is the first university incubator in Russia. Since 2006, it has provided HSE University students with support for implementing start-ups and developed the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by popularising entrepreneurship and educational activities with a minor (launched in 2022) and masterclasses. The Incubator’s activities also include training regional incubators, accelerators, and university representatives, holding the HSE Startup Cup twice a year, working with youth start-ups in external programmes, and collaborating with major holding companies to create incubator and accelerator programmes. More than 1,500 teams have taken the Business Incubator’s programmes, and its graduates have attracted more than 2.2 billion roubles of investment to their projects. It was named the world’s leading university incubator from 2017–2019 in the UBI Global ranking.

Participants of the HSE University Business Incubator’s programmes were among the winners:

 Anastasia Semenova (incubator programme);

 Migran Sharoyan (incubator programme);

 Fedor Kochergin (no-code product creation masterclass);

 Varvara Kuramina (no-code product creation masterclass, minor);

 Marina Lobastova (no-code product creation masterclass, minor).

The second round of applications for the Student Start-Up Competition began on May 17 and will run until July 15. This year, there are expected to be 1,000 winning projects. Each of them will receive one million roubles to implement their business projects. The 2023 competition is expected to have 1,500 winners, a figure that will rise to 30,000 by 2030.

Congratulations and good luck to the winners!